Chris Ksoll got her introduction to the horrors of puppy mills about four years ago when she fostered a female dog that had been used for breeding.

"The dog showed up and I was horrified," says Ksoll, a senior vice president at Wintrust Bank. "She'd been in a cage nine years, never let out. She had worms, teeth were missing, her eyes were sallow. She looked like a ghost. That disturbed me so much I had to research this. The question is, 'How can this exist? How can this be done to a dog?'"

The answer, according to "Dog By Dog," a new documentary, boils down to one word: money.

"I decided I had to do something, a documentary that would be objective and fact-based," says Ksoll, the executive producer of "Dog By Dog," which is premiering later this month. "The trick was finding the right company."

The one she found was 5414 Productions, a nonprofit Chicago production company that focuses on public policy issues, and its CEO, Christopher Grimes.

Grimes has a master's degree in public policy from Northwestern University. Another reason she liked him: He could approach the subject objectively.

"I'm not a quote/unquote member of the animal welfare community," says Grimes, who directed "Dog By Dog."

Grimes, whose previous film, "A Second Knock at the Door," was about friendly fire deaths, says he thought the key to "Dog By Dog" would be to find a new approach. So he and Ksoll, using her banking acumen, follow the money trail.

"Dog By Dog" is a feature-length documentary scheduled to be released worldwide in 2015, about the daily realities of puppy mills and the reasons they have been allowed to remain in business. Join the DBD community, learn more about the film team behind the film, or help the 501c3 registered non-profit making this film at dogbydogdocumentary.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/dogbydog.

"Dog By Dog" is a feature-length documentary scheduled to be released worldwide in 2015, about the daily realities of puppy mills and the reasons they have been allowed to remain in business. Join the DBD community, learn more about the film team behind the film, or help the 501c3 registered non-profit making this film at dogbydogdocumentary.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/dogbydog.

There have been other film and TV exposes of puppy mills, regular news reports of horrific conditions, and educational efforts from groups such as Chicago's Puppy Mill Project. "Dog By Dog" takes aim at the politicians, enforcement personnel and others who are allowing the abuses to continue.

The problem, Ksoll and Grimes say, is that puppies are considered a cash crop, and agricultural interests don't want any legislation that they believe infringes on their business. So bills are blocked, inspections aren't always made — some that are are not made public — and pet stores continue to push these dogs on often clueless customers.

"If you buy at a pet store or on the Internet, you make it worse," Grimes says. "These are puppy mill dogs. We want to educate the public."

Ksoll, who has fostered dogs in the past, remembers getting a call from a rescue saying it was getting a shipment of puppies. She wondered why someone would be trying to get rid of pups. The answer was obvious. The economy had stalled, people weren't paying the pet store price tag of thousands of dollars for a dog, and there was a backlog. The dogs were destined to be put down, so the rescues got a call.

Who's behind puppy mills? The answer, according to "Dog By Dog," a new documentary, boils down to one word: money.

Who's behind puppy mills? The answer, according to "Dog By Dog," a new documentary, boils down to one word: money.

Grimes says that if common sense legislation were brought to the Senate floor for a vote, it would pass overwhelmingly. But such bills never make it that far, he says, and are blocked in the agriculture subcommittees.

"Every member of those committees has received money from big agriculture."

"The AKC needs to register dogs because that's their business model," Ksoll says. "It's built on the backs of puppy mill dogs. . . . The AKC likes to say they do investigations, but they don't release the results."

How bad is the problem? There are estimates that 10,000 puppy mills are in operation in the U.S. Grimes thinks the number is probably higher.

"We want to put some transparency in there. People don't know (about the extent of the problem). Now they will know, and they will ask the right questions."

The filmmakers say they were careful not to show scene after scene of suffering animals.

"I thought, Could my mom watch it more than five minutes?" Grimes says. "We tried to make it palatable."

"Nobody will glaze over," Ksoll says. "People will feel empowered by facts. There's no Sarah McLachlan music. Nothing against her, but this is different."

"Dog By Dog" — the title is a reference to rescuers who have made it their mission to save these animals one at a time — will debut May 13 in New York. There is a May 14 screening in Philadelphia, and a June 4 showing in Chicago at 7:30 p.m. at the Landmark Century Centre Theater, 2828 N. Clark St.

"This is the start of a long process," Grimes says. "We're taking it to major cities, then regional, then we're hoping for a major release."